It all feels real now. I'm not going back to high school ever again. As a student at least. This weekend it really sank in as I was at Freshman orientation, met some new friends, hung out with my roommate to be, and registered for classes that I'm now a college student.
At UNI, orientation is a two day event where you go through the boring "This is how we deal with this, this is what we expect," blah blah blah. I admit, it was a lot of good information, and a lot of good things to know. But it was a lot for just two days.
I drove while my dad rode, since he wants me to feel comfortable with the drive that I will be making so often over the next four years. We go there and checked in, I turned in the college credit that I am bringing from AP exams and an academy program I took last year, so i could register for classes without worrying about taking classes I don't really need, and then we waited.
Soon, the first session started and it was a big welcome hoorah, where the president of the university talked about how glad he was that we were there, how great the university was, all the stuff we want to hear. then, we were introduced to our leaders (that gave off an odd camp counselor vibe, but it was cool). We were split into groups based on our majors, so I was in a group wit all English majors.
The group was cool. there was a guy, Sam, from my hometown that was pretty odd. I tried to keep away from him as best I could. At lunch, he asked what high school I graduated from ,since there are three. His response was "Eww!" Now, there is an obvious feud between the three and we all make fun of each other because that's just how it goes. But Kennedy is a million times better that Wash. We have been ranked in the top 10 schools in the nation for at least the last 8 years, probably more beyond that. They made the top 10 once, and keep the banner on the side of their school because they are too poor to pay someone to take it down. Our athletics can blow them out of water, and don't even get me started on our performing arts programs. That one little comment rubbed me the wrong way, and I refused to let it go.
To make matters worse, as I tried to brush it off, I asked if he knew my cousin that is our age (I'm older by a day 😝). He responded with "Oh yeah! We're buds! Let me text him now." Okay. You do you bud, it's not that neat. My cousin and I aren't super close, so that's just a small world kind of thing, nit like were all three gonna start palling around. So we're eating, and he gets like four messages, and out of habit, I look down at his phone on the table as if it were mine. they were messages from Kahner. "Dude." "Back off." "She has a boyfriend." "Lol" Thanks for having my back cuz! Definitely steering clear of Sam in the fall.
So later we go to an advising session, where the leaders talk to us about academics and registering for classes and all that fun stuff. It sounded super overwhelming, and that is a lot of power to give to young adults that have no clue what they are doing. In the past, it was like "These are the classes I want to take" after your teachers have told you what you should take. Then the counselors make a master schedule and put you in classes and you have no say, you just know that you will have seven classes from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This was "you need to satisfy these requirements, and have to take these as part of your major. Here are the classes and times the classes will be. Pick five, make your own schedule." HUGE change. But I did it, and it was actually pretty fun.
Then we went to a couple more "This is what to expect" lectures and the Student Involvement Fair, which was a hall with probably 70 tables set up with different clubs and activities that you can join. Some of them sound really cool, and I plan to get involved in. Others, not so much. Purple Mayhem sounds super fun. It's pretty much the VIP student section. You go to all the games and go hard. You're leading the student section, and talking to the coaches and players, traveling with the teams, all the stuff that I've missed the last four years while I was in band. I will most likely join.
After that, I met up with my dad, and we then met up with my mom (She couldn't get the days off work to come up, but she had a free hotel room that she had to be there to check into, so she came up for dinner and to hang around with my dad for a bit while I was at Pantherpalooza.) and went to the Purple and Gold dinner. It was a nice catered meal and some prizes. It was very classy, even though most of us were sweaty from walking around outside all day in the heat.
My parents went to the hotel (which was also a casino) while I went to Pantherpalooza to hang out. It was basically an open gym, wit volleyball, basketball, rock climbing, arts and crafts, and later a dance party. I started of playing volleyball, or some form of, with about 10 other people. I am not athletic, and I sucked. But I had fun, so it was nice. After a bit I went upstairs and colored with a group of girls and just talked, and that was amazing. I don't think I'll really keep in touch, but it was still super fun.
At around 10 the dance party started, and I went for a bit, but I left a little bit in. I was tired and it was super hot. So I drove over to the hotel and went to bed pretty fast. I could have stayed in one of the dorms there, but I wasn't able to stay with my roommate, and there was no air conditioning on an 80 degree night, and it would have cost us an extra $50. A hotel would do just fine.
The next morning, we got up and I had to be back at 8:15, so I could meet with an advisor, finalize my classes, and sit through a couple more information sessions. Nothing too painful. I did get a chance to declare a second major of Spanish-Teaching, so that helped. By the end of it, I walked out feeling really good. I'm super excited to start my adventure in the fall.
Soon I will be living in a new place, in a new city, doing new things every day. It has finally become real that this is my new life. And I couldn't be more excited.
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